Drawn to the online advertising spending power and retail strength of the Twin Cities, California-based digital marketing company
ValueClick recently opened an office here in order to expand its Midwestern presence.
ValueClick combines data, technology, and services to increase brand awareness for advertisers, and focuses on boosting revenue for online and mobile publishers. Some of the brands under its umbrella include
Greystripe,
Mediaplex,
Smarter.com, and
PriceRunner.
The Minneapolis office is helmed by Jeff Zoss, who's worked in digital advertising for nearly a dozen years, including stints at
CoolSavings and
MyPoints. He runs the outpost as a one-person operation now, with another representative in the office for Greystripe, but he anticipates that business will build enough to warrant hiring a team.
"Minneapolis/St. Paul is seen as a very valuable market for ValueClick and for advertising in general," says Zoss. "If you look at what's here, from Target and Best Buy to ad agencies, there's a strong focus for the interactive market."
ValueClick, like other digital marketing companies, had been relying on a Chicago location for its Midwestern presence, but Zoss notes that an office here will allow the company to become a larger part of the community.
"It's nice to be local, to meet someone for coffee instead of flying in," he says. "Sometimes, the best business deals happen because you ran into someone in the skyway."
Source: Jeff Zoss, ValueClick
Writer: Elizabeth Millard